What about all the church functions and fund-raisers that serve
meat and dairy products from animals horrifically brutalized? Isn’t it
interesting that these professing Christians, who believe that the
Holy Spirit informs believers, ask God’s blessing over the products of
unspeakable cruelty? One would expect at least some of these believers
to have matured enough in their faith to listen to the Holy Spirit’s
promptings about ending their financial support of cruelty. Have they
not read Proverbs 12:10?
10 A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal,
But the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
Are these people saying that they are wicked?
And what about the church-sponsored hunting and fishing parties where
children are indoctrinated and hardened into the killer-mindset
traditions? (A hardening of the heart.) The answer is found in Matthew
18:5-7:
5 "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to
stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around
his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is
inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through
whom the stumbling block comes!
~ New American Standard Bible
We, as Christians, need to wake up to the fact that the majority of
Christianity has strayed from the loving, compassionate, and
peace-making teachings of Jesus Christ. For some reason, most Christians
seem to want to find excuses for following the ways of the world, with
all the hardness of heart, violence, and injustice. Christians are to be
in the world but not of the world. They are not to participate in the
dark deeds of the world. John 8:12 is one of several passages that refer
to spiritual light and spiritual darkness:
12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of
the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall
have the light of life."
~ New American Standard Bible
We need to go back to the basics of Jesus’ teachings. We are to love
God with every part of our being. This kind of unconditional love
requires us to deeply respect and honor the whole of God’s “very good”
(Genesis 1:31) creation. This includes our fellow human beings, the
other animals, and the environment in which we all live.
Tomorrow’s Blog: What Would Jesus Think of Present-Day Christians? –
Christian living as reflected in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
